A time for peace?

Is Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a recipe or likely scenario for resolving the outstanding issues in the Middle East conflict and bringing about the long-awaited peace based on a two-state solution (‘Step forward Sharon – the peacemaker’, 8-14 December)? Admittedly received wisdom prescribes otherwise how the conflict should be solved.

European Voice

12/20/05, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 12:08 PM CET

The hypothesis runs that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, after having successfully disengaged Israel from Gaza, is now facing the inability or unwillingness of the Palestinian Authority to disarm and outlaw extremist organisations. This would leave Sharon with no other option than further unilateral steps in the West Bank. The solution of the difficult Jerusalem issue is better left to the end of a "co-ordinated unilateral" process.

From another perspective, further unilateral steps, however, contradict the universally accepted road-map for peace. Unilateral steps may reduce tension but will not result in any lasting peace. For this, mutually agreed and acceptable solutions are required. The disengagement from Gaza was of course necessary and is rightly credited to Sharon. But it was a long overdue and desperate step by a prime minister whose policy of refusing to recognise any negotiating partner had failed.

Co-ordination alone isn't sufficient to make the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza work. The two sides continue to be locked in a vicious circle of terror and counter-actions which breed more terror. Meetings with the Palestinian president are postponed indefinitely. After each terror attack the Sharon government repeats the old mantra that there is no partner for negotiations. After so many repetitions it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We should learn the lessons from the past failures in the peace process. The Oslo process was based on the rationale of interim agreements but dragged on and resulted in the second intifada.

During Ehud Barak's tenure as Israel's prime minister, negotiations with the Palestinians were a second priority after Syria. The postponement of negotiations on final status issues such as Jerusalem and the refugee problem derailed the peace process once it was renewed.

Israeli public opinion will hardly accept further painful withdrawals without a peace agreement in return. Neither will Palestinian public opinion accept less than a 100% withdrawal from the West Bank and sovereignty over the Arab parts of East Jerusalem. The blueprints for a solution do exist but they can only be implemented through serious and focused negotiations between the two sides, supported by mediators.